Advertising with Cinemagraphs | FAQ

Browse answers to frequently asked questions about advertising with cinemagraphs on social media

Written by Vikki Dziuma Updated over a week ago

What is the best way to start creating cinemagraphs ads?Tutorials are available in-app and online which cover beginner and advanced lessons. Our curated galleries showcase work from thousands of artists and brands; it’s a great source for inspiration!

How would a small business benefit from the software?

1. You save time on every cinemagraph you create. Creating cinemagraphs requires experimentation and using traditional video editing tools can take hours or even days. Cinemagraph Pro allows you to create a cinemagraph in under 5 minutes with the ability to produce several variations from a single video clip.

2. You’ll get better performing ads and content. If you're getting a 100% lift in CTR (Click-Through Rate) using cinemagraphs, that's twice as efficient as your existing ad performance. That means you'll pay less for every click you get.

You can expect anywhere between 2x to 5x increase overall CTR on your creative. Content posted on social channels is harder to measure but cinemagraphs generally see greater engagement in terms of comments and likes. There's a cost benefit analysis involved, but you’ll notice measurable returns almost immediately if you're running native ads or creating a lot of content to post on social media.

Do cinemagraph ads perform better than still images? How is this measured?The only true way to test performance is by setting up a controlled experiment. To do so, you’d expose a cinemagraph to a certain number of impressions and do the same with a still image.

Over the past year we've partnered on and collected a series of case studies that provide deeper insights into the effectiveness of cinemagraphs on social media. We don't run experiments ourselves; the results are not biased.

A small business called Inkbox conducted a split A/B test to see for themselves how cinemagraphs would outperform still image ads. The results are statistically significant at a confidence level of 95%. Click here to read more about the Inkbox case study.

Would I pay more for a video-based ad compared to a still image?The Facebook algorithm favors creatives that see higher engagement rates, rewarding them with higher relevance scores and lower CPM (cost per thousand). Sometimes you are likely to see higher CPMs, but you would still end up getting more engaged traffic.

The performance of your ads will be negatively impacted if you choose to use GIFs instead of video. High quality GIFs can be very large in file size which may affect the loading time. Cinemagraph videos would get lower CPM rates because of the smooth playback of video on social media.

How do more clicks on a cinemagraph translate into more conversions?If you keep your targeting parameters, landing pages, and automation workflows consistent, your conversions should increase providing you get the right kind of traffic going down the funnel. You can use an image, video, or cinemagraph as an ad to get viewers at the top of the funnel. And this is where cinemagraphs shine! They are much more effective than images and cheaper to produce than long-form video. If you use cinemagraphs instead of images, you'll get more traffic for the same budget with the variables being your targeting and creatives in use.

What is the file format of the cinemagraph ad you’d post on Facebook?Cinemagraphs are HD videos that autoplay and loop. All ad formats on Facebook support video with the exception of Offers. You can incorporate cinemagraphs into video ads, Carousel ads or Canvas ads. Facebook Ads Guide recommends uploading video ads in MP4 format. With Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm allowing videos under 30 seconds to autoplay and loop, you can expect your cinemagraph ad to playback flawlessly.

Why not use longer videos for ads?Unlike traditional long-form form video with sound, cinemagraphs are quick and easy to create. They also work better in a mobile-first world as smartphones generally have sound turned off. Video is more difficult to produce and edit. Our cinemagraph tools democratize the advertising landscape by empowering users to easily create effective content for advertising.

Cinemagraphs perform particularly well for certain use cases. Remarketing campaigns, for example, would benefit from using various creatives to stay on top of customers’ minds. The average engagement time for a cinemagraph ad is 9 seconds; the average engagement time for a still image ad is 1 second, indicating that you’ll see much better results if you substitute your image ads with cinemagraphs.

Cinemagraphs are the perfect fit for smaller brands who advertise on Facebook and can't afford long-form videos. Our tools allow businesses to create cinemagraphs using just a tripod and an iOS device.